WoPhys 2012 Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physical Sciences

WoPhys 2012 Banner Image
Advancing Equity Through Action

I spent the end of last week switching back and forth between my regular job duties as a librarian and our Conference for Undergraduate Women in the Physical Sciences. This is one of my favorite conferences because students always do the most investing research, and it’s nice to attend a conference where I’m just there to learn and build relationships. In many ways I wear a bit more of my scientist hat at this conference than my library one, although, as always they overlap quite a bit.

Although all have been welcome in the past, previous years have focused on Physics not the Physical Sciences in general. Last year theme focused on graphene, but this year the focus of the conference was on nanomaterials. This was especially appropriate with the opening of the new nanoscience center on campus.

Another difference this year was the higher attendance and presentation (at least from my point of view as an attendee) of undergraduate and graduate men in the physical sciences. Attendees came from all over including Ohio, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Peurto Rico, and Virginia to name a few.

Students presented posters on a variety of topics from the atmospheric science, to breast cancer research, lasers, optics, seismology, to how mice communicate and more. My favorite part of the conference is talking with students about their research and career goals, letting them know about opportunities available to them, and encouraging them to forge their own unique career path that will enrich their lives and society. I think presenting students with options and opportunities is especially important because it empowers them to make thoughtful choices instead of pushing them into linear career paths with “no chance of deviation if you want to succeed”.

Sadly I wasn’t able to attend as many sessions as I would have liked but here are a few highlights from a talk titled Not Just for Jewels Only: The Incredible Story of Gold Nanoparticles given by Talat S. Rahman, Department of Physics, University of Central Florida.

*These notes are primarily paraphrases of her talk, any errors or misunderstanding should be attributed to me and not the speaker.
In regards to women in science:

The Bottom up Approach

Over time you can drive the change, sometimes you might be the only woman or one of two or three, keep participating and encouraging other women and you will see it shift over time.
Nanoscience and gold:

Nanoscience is about starting to look at building blocks, you study the interesting properties of these building blocks in order to lead to new technologies. Quantum effects are often revealed at the nano-scale, and melting points vary rapidly as a function of size of nanoparticles. Properties at this scale a expected to control characteristics at a larger scale.
Using the bottom up approach is important. We should start with atoms followed by: clusters, nano particles, powder, and bulk materials.

Gold clusters are very attractive for drug delivery because they are:

Tunable functionality with different enzymes

Water soluble

Bio compatible

Resistant to oxidation

Extremely stable under physiological conditions i.e. high salt concentrations etc.

Potential treatment of cancer

Indicator for the presence of specific bio molecules

How you prepare the samples will determine whether you get a metallic or nonmetallic particle. The spacing between gold atoms determines the plasmon mode (plasmons are electron density waves), and whether the sample acts as a metal or semiconductor in the case of gold.

Does nanoscience live up to the hype?

Reflects hope particularly in developing countries

New paradigm, novel approach

Demands diversity in thinking

Opportunities for broader participation

Novel avenues for developing human resources

Bottom up vs top down approaches

Engages creativity

It’s hard to distill the essence of someone’s talk in a few hastily typed notes but if you ever have the chance to hear Dr. Rahman speak I highly encourage you to do so.

*This conference was sponsored by the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRESC Nebraska), the Center for Nanohybrid Functional Materials (CNFM), Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, Nebraska EPSCoR, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Office of Research and Economic Development.

WoPhy11 Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics

WoPhy11 Program Cover read Material Girls and shows a UNL student dressed and posed as Rosie the Riveter against a white background with yellow edge.
WoPhy11 Program Image

Last week I was fortunate to be able to attend about half of WoPhy11. Meeting all the fantastic undergraduate researchers in Physics was a bit intimidating, they’re all so driven and their projects, may of them self-designed, have the potential to impact millions. A friend suggested I blog a few of the sessions that I was able to attend. I was writing rather quickly so you should assume that I’m paraphrasing liberally unless otherwise indicated.

*Disclaimer – I am a physical chemist not a physicist, any mistakes should be attributed to my note taking and not the presenters.

Practical Quantum Mechanics: Semi-Conductor Materials for Mid-Infrared Laser
Linda Olafsen, Professor of Physics, Baylor University (Creates finite quantum wells.)

Important Points:

Researches lasers to defend ourselves from laser weapons.
Quantum Mechanics is very practical!
We want lasers that are on all the time, not pulsing.
We also want devices that we don’t need to cool with liquid nitrogen tanks, currently they’re not very practical to carry around.

Did you know?

Lasers can be used to test breath as an early Asthma detection system.
Lasers could be use to decoy off heat seeking missiles.

Computational Materials Science: Designing Materials from First Principles
Julia E Medvedeva, Professor of Physics, Missouri University of Science and Technology
(Computational physics).

Materials are all around us. We want materials to be: safe, lightweight, efficient, strong, durable, small, and eco-friendly. Using simulations we can study materials and optimize them before we spend thousands of dollars fabricating and testing them. Much of the wok in this field is being done by corporations not academia.

Before we had to start with the composition and atomic arrangement and try to create the physical properties we needed. Now we can start with the physical properties and design materials based on our needs saving time and money on experimentation. We can also model situations which are impossible to create experimentally. Because we can control all of the parameters we can determine whether the driving forces are: charge, spin, or orbital degrees of freedom.

While computational physics is a valuable tool it is important to remember that computer modeling is not a Simulation of Reality, rather an accurate computation of relevant quantities to prove or disprove a theory.

Computers don’t solve problems, People Do!

Timeline of Ab-Initio Modeling

1960s — Bulk Material Calculations
1970s — Defects and Impuraties calculations allow optimization of materials.
1980s — Interfaces, Surfaces, & Thin Layers calculations (diff. properties than bulk materials.)
1990s — Simple Molecules (Fullerenes, clathrates, carbon nanotubes).
2000s — Polymers

Now we can study structural, energetic, electronic, optical and magnetic properties of any element, any bonding situation, periodic structures, and single molecules. These calculations have a high accuracy rate allowing greater variations in system size to be addressed than was previously possible.

Illustration based on lecture slide of How Nanotechnology Connects Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Economics, and Engineering
Illustration based on lecture slide of How Nanotechnology Connects Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Economics, and Engineering

Nanotechnology and Materials Science
Heike Geisler Professor of Nanoscale Science & Engineering, University at Albany- SUNY

Nanotechnology is the fundamental student of materials on the nanoscale measuring 1nm-100nm in one or more dimensions.

Physical and chemical properties are totally different on this scale due to the increased surface to volume ratio. Possible uses include Roll to Roll production of ultra large scale graphene films could be used to make ultra-light and durable laptops.

The illustration is based off of a slide which demonstrated how nanotechnology crosses many disciplinary boundaries. Economics is not an obvious match, but the point was made that the cost, or energy, to achieve a goal is an important factor in determining what nanotechnologies are commercially viable.